China plans to adjust its procedures for selling weapons to other countries after news came last week that state-owned arms manufacturers were selling arms to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's government in July.

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, revealed on Tuesday that Col. El Qaddafi's government needed the weapons to fight off rebels this summer.

In a New York Times report, Jiang Yu also said that China would continue to obey a United Nations ban on weapons sales to Libya. This was approved in February with Chinese support.

The rebels, now occupying Libya's capital, Tripoli, said that the Chinese companies sold weapons to Qaddafi's army. The Chinese government said that it was unaware of such negotiations, and that no actual arms were delivered to the Qaddafi.

Despite this denial by the Chinese government, a Canadian journalist found documents of the proposed arms deals in a trash heap in Tripoli. The deal amounted to $200 million. Found after the rebels moved into Tripoli, the papers did not reveal whether the proposed arm sales by the Chinese companies were ever completed.

With this, Ms. Jiang Yu stated during a Foreign Ministry news briefing that the Chinese government would "further strengthen management over military exports."

"Competent authorities for military trade will handle the matter in a serious manner in accordance with regulations," she added.

News of the proposed arms sales resulted to friction between China and the rebel interim government, the Transitional National Council. According to the rebel leaders, they have evidence of arms shipments from Chinese companies and other countries. They said that this has been going on despite the embargo. The rebels even threatened to retaliate once the arm sales to Qaddafi's military has been proven.

Jiang maintained that no weapons were shipped to Libya and that the Chinese government has fully respected the U.N. embargo on arms sales to the Gadhafi government.

The New York Times report states that before the Libyan revolution in February, China was known to sell arms to the Qaddafi, and was a major customer of Libyan oil. China invests billions of dollars in Libyan oil, buying three percent of its annual oil requirements from Libya. China also has 35,000 people working there when the revolt started.

"Members of the NTC have said that Chinese commercial interests could be damaged if state-owned Chinese companies did ship arms to the Gadhafi government," said an Outlook Series report.

"We hope Libya will honor its existing contracts, China's existing contracts with Libya, and protect the safety of China's interests in Libya," Jiang added. "And we will make due contribution to Libya's post-war reconstruction process."

Jiang Yu confirms China's support of the transitional council, although among the United Nations Security Council's five permanent members it has yet to formally recognize the rebel government. Russia extended its recognition of the council on Thursday. The other member countries are France, Great Britain, and the United States.

"Our line of communication with the NTC is smooth, and the instability in Libya is temporary, but our further relations with Libya are long-term and we continue to stay in close contact with Libya to promote the steady development of bilateral relations," Ms. Jiang said in the Outlook Series report.

She adds that China's relations with the rebel-led provisional government are "smooth" and that China will recognize the National Transitional Council when the time is "ripe."